Setting Sail

Lamplighters' HMS Pinafore at Yerba Buena.

Vocal music comes to the rescue during the sparse days of August, as Lamplighters Music Theatre balances the new of Festival Opera's production of Ned Rorem's Our Town with the tried and true of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore. This 129-year-old tale of incompetence in high places manages to make jolly good fun of what, in modern times, is seldom a laughing matter. Friday, August 17-Sunday, August 19 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, plus 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday. $34-$44. 415-978-2787. Lamplighters.org

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